Merci

A guy helps a lady on her way to the train and things take a turn, a serious turn. I thought the team did well with the cat n mouse genre, and the drone shot in the warehouse was great and used to good effect, rather than just for the hell of it. I thought the elements were well used in the film and the acting was good. There was some nice camera work and the torch/phone light shots looked really good.

Very well shot, definitely the film's biggest strength. The characters and story were pretty good too, though you don't really come out the other end liking either of them all that much. The mood is very tense, and I think this team definitely has the resources to go far in the competition.

These guys made another really nice looking film. Camera work was great, lighting was ace and it was cut well. The epic drone(?) shot of the warehouse at the beginning was pretty spectacular, but then once the chase/search inside began, it kind of lost that sense of vastness and almost didn't feel like they were in that same giant space. It was a fairly standard story as far as what you'd expect from a cat and mouse and I didn't get invested in either character, but it was still an enjoyable watch regardless and it did have a nice punchy finish to it, which I was pleased to see. Good job guys. Some mad skills at play here.

The initial chase up until (and including) the drone shot was awesome. Probably the best drone shot I have seen in the competition. But after that the only thing I liked was the use of prop. Setting up Charlie as a creepy stalker from the first shot and then playing that out with the final scene meant that I couldn't like the guy. If their initial encounter had them coming towards each other to remove the stalkyness (and possibly make Annies fall look more convincing) and if the final kissing scene was all Annies work instead of Charlie being rapey, the final shot would have been way more shocking because we would have lost a character we actually liked. The main disappointment I guess is that I know you can do better than that.

This is bloody slick in the technical department - the music, the edit, the acting, the camerawork, all on point. The pace as well was mightily impressive, showing urgency and restraint at just the right moments. For a five-minute film, that's hellishly skillful. However, the tension created by the filmmaking isn't all that reflective in the characters. Neither of them felt like much of a danger to each other, removing most of the suspense a cat-n-mouse film of this sort relies on. It feels like there are arcs missing, or something specific about these characters that we never see. This lack of malicious motive means we recognise the beats of tension but don't feel it. Two moments feel especially jarring: the part where he picks up the wrench, and the ending. Perhaps with two added minutes, those particular character traits could have been hinted at. Nevertheless, this was great to watch. Also, THAT shot. Holy wow.

It's an incredibly well put together film, I'm constantly amazed by some of the locations that some 48 hours teams are able to get a hold of and this film had some pretty cool locations. I can sort of see why it's not a finalist though, the story was simple enough to have the potential but I'm not sure the tone was right in places for it and the ending was a bit stilted in comparison to the rest of the film. I guess the tone that the music set didn't really match the scenario that was set up by going after the wallet thief.

Hey great job here some very nice camera work and great use of music and a pretty good location. Yes wow great drone shot, well done! The acting was solid from the lead guy but I found the woman a little comical rather than menacing which would have added to the film. You almost nailed it but there were a couple of things that missed the beat. I found that you had gone for realism up until the point where Annie caught her jumper on the nail and then the film lost it's realism. I agree with the other reviewer about the guy taking the lead and the payoff at the end would have had more impact if it was her. But well done on a very solid film the Auckland finalists must be very strong I think you can't have missed by that much.

Hybrid always, always produce slick looking films that are technically super solid so that's never going to be an issue given the skill set the team has. What it does come down to is story and while the first half of this film is a great set-up the back half falls a bit flat. I too thought that her jersey getting caught was a bit too much on the nose - surely she would have been able to just break it off. Likewise too, I thought that maybe the whole thing was an elaborate set-up from the pick-pocket rather than Charlie seizing upon an opportunity to get a bit rapey. The ease at which she takes control at that point is also a bit head-shaking. Beautiful looking, well-paced and yes, that's a lesson on how you execute a worthwhile drone shot.